The Down Side of Giving Advice

In many meditation and metaphysics classes there is an expression which is often used- "What you give is what you get." The normal meaning of the phrase requires no special explanation. It is an easily grasped and important concept. I believe however that I have stumbled upon a more subtle extension of the principle.

When we give advice to another, such as to try and see the wonder and beauty in our daily lives- a path often strewn with obstacles, set backs and what may seem to be in the worst cases even tragedies, it can come back to us. We may find that we're faced with a number of challenges or at least things we wish we didn't have to deal with, and then we remember our advice. Those carelessly tossed out words, not necessarily well thought out, but still, with the best of intentions. If things are particularly difficult, we may want to dismiss whatever advice we tried to pass along, feeling that it was really stupid and arrogant of us to have taken a position of knowing what someone else should do.

Still though, we are stuck with what we said to that other person, or perhaps quite a lot of advice to quite a few others. We did say it and there's no taking it back. We have to live with that. It can be like an echo which doesn't fade away. The good news is that there may actually be a certain amount of truth in our automatically offered utterance. Remembering may add to our frustration, but there may be some hope in there for us. It's not easy, but even when surrounded by darkness and doom, with perhaps even more problems on the horizon and closing in, there may be at least a little bit of good, something encouraging or uplifting at the very edge of our vision.

If we shift our focus ever so slightly, we might be able to take it in and regain just a little bit of energy and strength, and get up again. It not that we are forgetting about the problem, we can't really do that. We may need to rest, we may need to rethink a number of things, but that little bit of difference- that slight bit of encouragement from either the outside world or maybe even from a half smile in the mirror acknowledging and laughing at our own fallibility may be enough to actually get us going again.

The down side of giving advice is that sooner or later your words will come back to you, but the good thing is that if you allow it, they may actually help- not a lot, but maybe just enough.
And So It Is.
C

~ Peace and Love ~ 和平與愛 ~ Paz e Amor ~ Vrede en Liefde ~ السلام والحب ~
愛と平和 ~ Kapayapaan ~ Frieden und Liebe ~ Pace e amore ~ 사랑과 평화!